Archive for June, 2009

July 5, 2009, is the day that the New York City subway G line will be extended to the Church Avenue station on the F line. This is necessary due to the rehabilitation of the Culver Viaduct:

Beginning July 5 and lasting approximately four years, extensive reconstruction of the Culver Viaduct will require the extension of the G Line subway service to Church Avenue in Southern Brooklyn. While designed to accommodate this major structure rehabilitation, the extension will provide additional service south of Smith-9th Street, save travel time for many customers and provide additional transfer options.

This change is necessary because rehabilitation of the steel and concrete structure, opened in 1933 as part of the IND system, requires the removal of two tracks from service for the duration of the project, eliminating the area at 4th Av-9th Street used by G trains to reverse direction.

In other interesting news contained in the same article, the New York Giants have a connection to the new movie “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3”:

Lastly, the Giants invited us to a screening of “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” at their practice facility this afternoon with about 40 of the players. The film, which comes out June 12, was co-produced by Giants co-owner Steve Tisch.

This Sunday, attend the Tel Aviv Beach Party in Central Park (in celebration of the city of Tel Aviv in Israel turning 100 years old), and while you’re there, tell them to build that long awaited subway already!!! If it’s not done by the time of my next visit, I’ll just have to ask for a tour of the only existing subway station in Tel Aviv – under Shalom Meir Tower.

This NYCT SERVICE ALERT appeared at mta.info Tuesday morning. Upon seeing it, I says to myself, I says: “Have trolley tracks been relaid in the Bronx and have the (B), (D), and (F) trains been diverted to run along them?!?!?”

Rumor has it that today *may* be the final day of service for these awesome subway cars. In fact, the R-40 Slants have always been my favorite New York City subway cars, based on their amazing modern design, penned by Raymond Loewy in the 1960’s. Over the years their appearance has been marred (see the images in the middle of the page) by the addition of safety equipment and General Overhaul (GOH). Still, their unique railfan window (tall and narrow) allowed countless hundreds of thousands of young children to see out the front of the subway train (the railfan windows of the other subway cars were situated too high for them to see out of).

The New York Post published an article today that tells how much of the new movie “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” was filmed in real New York City subway tunnels, in real New York City subway stations, and on real New York City subway cars, and that’s what the director demanded. I’m glad he decided ot do the right thing!

And what makes the movie unique is that the production took great pains to make this New York story as authentically New York as possible, including traipsing through dusty subway tunnels, trying to film in crowded Grand Central and risking death from the ever-humming third rail.

…..

Much of the action takes place down in the dark, rat-infested tunnels beneath the city streets, and when director Tony Scott signed on for the project, he had one demand: that as much as possible, it would be shot in the actual subway system.

“When Tony and I were prepping the picture, what we always spoke about was that we needed authenticity,” says producer Todd Black. “We didn’t want people going, ‘This isn’t New York. That’s not the real subway. That’s a set. That’s Montreal or Vancouver.’ It needed to have that whole New York flavor, on the streets and in the subway.”

That meant heading underground for what Katherine Oliver, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, says is “probably one of the biggest productions shot in the subway.”

…

Most of the subway scenes were filmed on a stretch of abandoned track off Brooklyn’s Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, along which the HH shuttle used to run. (Service was discontinued in 1946.) Those particular tracks were unused, but the location gave the filmmaker’s the advantage of having active A, C and G trains passing along the neighboring tracks, giving scenes a realistic feel.

“In the past, we’ve allowed filming on a platform or inside a train, but very little filming with actors down on the track,” says Joe Grodzinsky, superintendent of Rapid Transit Operations. “‘Pelham’ shot scenes with the actors on the track as trains moved past them. That was unique.”

…

To make sure no accidents happened, everyone involved with the production (some 400 people, including a high-up executive at Sony) was forced to enroll in an eight-hour NYC Transit safety course. The group took a classroom lesson at the NYC Transit Learning Center in Gravesend, then strapped on regulation boots and safety vests, grabbed flashlights and headed down onto the tracks from a Brooklyn R station.

Because there’s only so much space in an actual subway car — as anyone who’s been smashed up against a weird, sweaty guy during rush hour can attest — the production built a fake car on a stage at Kaufman Astoria Studios. It was made from scratch using pieces of decommissioned subway cars and powered by hydraulics, so it could zip along a 40-foot section of track.

In truth, much more of the film would have had to been shot on sound stages had NYC Transit not consented to allow the crew access to the subway. The agency has turned down requests before for many reasons, including when a plot is considered too sensitive because it involves destruction or terrorism.

“There was concern [about “Pelham”], but we were very careful to say in the film, this isn’t about terrorism,” Black says. “Particularly after 9/11, we didn’t want to make anything about this movie be about terrorism. And the original wasn’t about terrorism. It was about greed and money.”

MTA New York City Transit Pilots Bronx Express Service Along the Jerome Ave. Line

It’s All About Time!

MTA New York City Transit is set to begin a pilot program aimed at shortening travel times along the 4 Line with the creation of a new Bronx Express 4 service between Woodlawn and 149th Street-Grand Concourse. The enhanced service will operate for a one-hour period during the weekday morning rush.

The pilot will begin June 8th and run through June 26th and be comprised of four trains within a one-hour period during the morning rush. The Bronx Express trains are scheduled to depart weekdays from Woodlawn at 7:15 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 7:45 a.m. and 8 a.m. After leaving Woodlawn, the Bronx Express 4 will make a station stop at Mosholu Parkway before switching to the middle track and heading to Burnside Avenue. From Burnside, the train will make its final Bronx station stop at 149th Street before making all regular express stops along the 4.

Customers boarding at Mosholu Parkway and Burnside Avenue will be alerted to the Bronx Express 4 by conductors’ announcements. Customers are being informed of the pilot through the distribution of take-ones printed in English and Spanish, as well as informational posters.

“The idea for this pilot is directly attributable to the Line General Managers program and it illustrates the types of innovations made possible when you have people running the railroad directly. David Knights, Group General Manager of IRT East and 4 Line General Manager Herb Lambert were looking to speed travel along a route that has been traditionally local in the Bronx,” said New York City Transit President Howard H. Roberts, Jr. “Signal improvements and the continued mechanical reliability of the car fleet have allowed them to try new ways of improving service.”

“By skipping nine stations, the Bronx Express 4 is expected to shave about 3.5 minutes off the 20 to 21 minutes scheduled running time between Woodlawn and 149th Street-Grand Concourse during the height of the a.m. peak. This is a significant time saving when you are headed out to work in the morning,” said IRT East Group General Manager Knights. “This pilot will determine the feasibility of bringing Jerome Avenue service in line with the Concourse, White Plains Road and Pelham Bay corridors by offering an express service to morning commuters.”

This pilot is possible because of the recent upgrades made to the center track signaling system within the 2005-2009 Capital Program. The signal job called for the installation of intermediate signals along the stretch of elevated track between Woodlawn and 161st Street. As a result of the project, we now have a greater flexibility of use with the middle track and can send trains in passenger service as well as work trains up or down the middle track. In the event of a disruption in service or track maintenance, we can also reroute trains onto the middle track. Similar signaling systems, allowing express service, are in place on the Flushing and White Plains Road Lines among others that have three tracks.

The results of the pilot will be evaluated after the completion of the three-week period and a decision will be made on whether to make this change permanent.

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